From Director to Designer: Q+A With HOK’s Sybille Herwig

Thanks for sharing your story with us Sybille. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.

Born and raised in Germany as the daughter of an engineer and an artist, I established my passion for everything and anything creative at a very young age. I spent my childhood and youth performing and teaching dance, which eventually brought me to Spain where I worked as an artistic director in major hotel resorts.

Eventually, a bigger sense of adventure took me on extensive world travel aboard cruise ships as an excursion and entertainment manager. Sixty-five countries later, I moved to California to pursue my bachelor’s degree in communications and film. Dreaming big, I made the leap to Hollywood working in film and commercial production as a production coordinator, producer and occasional actor.

After more than a decade in the industry, I mastered the skill of creative problem solving, but realized that I was catering to other people’s ideas and my own creative urges were left unfulfilled. I was ready for another change and interior design became my new calling. I went back to grad school and received my master’s degree in interior architecture.

Now, I get to create and implement my own ideas through a beautiful and freeing collaborative process. I see my new future in creating modern, innovative and sustainable design solutions for international hospitality and commercial clients.

Excerpted from Voyage LA: